It was a call from Ravens executive Eric DeCosta three years earlier that set things in motion for safety Eric Weddle to come east and resume his NFL career after his bitter release by the San Diego Chargers.

When Weddle answered his phone late Tuesday afternoon, DeCosta, now the Ravens general manager, had an entirely different message.

“The conversation was just small chatting and then he basically said they’re going to release me and it was probably the hardest thing that he had to do in his career, and maybe do ever, because of what he thought about me. But he said that he had to do what he thinks is best for the organization,” Weddle said Wednesday in a phone conversation with The Athletic. “Listen, it was a good talk. I wasn’t shocked by it. I think I had been preparing myself for a month and a half that this was going to happen. He goes his way and I go mine, but it was an amazing three years. There’s no hard feelings.